Paterson teen charged in death of her 2-month-old son

In this October 2013 file photo, a Passaic County Sheriff's crime scene investigator leaves the Beech Street apartment in Paterson where a 2-month-old boy died.

A Paterson teenager has been charged as a juvenile in the death of her 2-month-old son more than nine months ago after a medical examiner’s report indicated the baby suffered trauma to his body, authorities said on Friday.

The girl, who was arrested late Thursday night, was being held Friday in a juvenile detention center in Essex County on a delinquency charge equivalent to aggravated manslaughter for an adult, said Christopher R. Freid, a Passaic County senior assistant prosecutor. Her identity was not released because she is charged as a juvenile.

The suspect and other family members called 911 on the morning of Oct. 31 because the baby wasn’t breathing, authorities have said. Family members tearfully told reporters that the baby, whose name was Jayden, had died in his sleep.

The baby’s grandmother, Deprecia Hall, said at the time that Jayden was a healthy baby, but had breathing problems when he was born. The baby’s parents, she said, loved their child and had nothing to do with his death. Hall did not return a message seeking comment on Friday.

Freid said that a medical examiner’s report completed in March ruled the baby’s death to be a homicide and found “significant trauma to the body.” He did not say whether the trauma caused the death but said the medical examiner’s findings sparked an investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit that led to Thursday’s arrest.

Prosecutors, he said, have not yet decided whether to seek to have the girl tried as an adult. He declined to say how old the girl is now, but said she is still a minor. Prosecutors have 30 days to file papers asking a judge to transfer the case to an adult court. To move a case, according to state law, prosecutors are required to prove that a juvenile defendant can’t be rehabilitated by the time they turn 19.

“We’re not at that stage yet,” Freid said.

The girl has been charged with delinquency for committing an act that for an adult defendant would constitute one count of first-degree aggravated manslaughter and one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, county Prosecutor Camelia Valdes said in a news release.

Neighbors have said a girl ran down the stairs from her second-floor apartment on Beech Street on the day that Jayden died screaming that her baby had stopped breathing. “My baby, my baby, my baby,” the girl cried over and over, according to a neighbor.

The girl told one neighbor, Shelbea Suttles, that she left the baby in a room on his back but that he was on his stomach when she returned. She was crying hysterically when a man said they had to go to the hospital, according to Suttles. The baby was pronounced dead a short time later at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center.

Freid said on Friday that the “there is a father” involved in the case but would not say more about him. He declined to say whether anyone else would be charged, adding that detectives are still interviewing witnesses and that “the investigation is ongoing.”

Last year, the baby’s grandmother said the family had been eagerly anticipating Jayden’s first Halloween, and planned to dress him up as a fireman.

“The only thing that gives me comfort is that he is in heaven right now,” she said at the time. “He was so beautiful.”